Restlessness
by Lailie
Summary: When Harry's blood is drawn in the graveyard, a special type of dagger was used, one coated in poison. Unknown to Harry, the poison slowly starts to kill him, will a cure be discovered? Or will Harry finally be defeated? Sorry,summary sucks. First fanfic.
1. Strange Feelings

A.N: This is my first fanfic ever, so I hope you like it. Please feel free to point out any grammatical mistakes I've made, and if you enjoyed it - review!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, I've just borrowed him for this story :)

Harry Potter sat straight up in bed, drops of perspiration shining on his forehead. Even though he didn't notice it, he was shaking violently at the sight he had just had to relive. He had just had a nightmare, about the night Voldemort had returned to power. It seemed that this summer his dreams had become much more vivid, and every time he saw the light leave Cedric's eyes as the green spell hit him, Harry still felt the gut-wrenching pain like it was the first time. He slowly shook his head to bring himself out of his own thoughts. He knew that lingering on the dream would do nothing to help him.

He looked around his room slowly, "What I wouldn't give to be back at Hogwarts" he thought wistfully to himself. He felt for his glasses on the crooked bedside table and slid them on to his nose. Once his eyes had focused and he had adjusted to the dark room, he looked at the clock…it was only 2:30 am.

"Great" He thought. "Now I get to miss out on six hours sleep."

He pulled off one of the think sheets covering him, and removed his ragged jumper that had once belonged to his cousin.

It had been one of the coldest summers this year, but yet Harry felt like he was sweating from the sweltering heat.

Since the third task he hadn't felt right, he would get shooting headaches at odd times, which only lasted a minute or so, but were agony all the same. He had come to the decision that they were due to Voldemort's return, and the reconnection of his scar and the Dark Lord's thoughts. In the few weeks remaining at Hogwarts before the summer holidays the pains had started. He did his best to hide this from Ron and Hermione, his two best friends, but they had occasionally looked at him with concern, or asked him what was wrong. Each time he replied with the same answer; "I'm fine." This just caused his friends to roll their eyes, and continue casting him looks when they thought he wasn't looking.

But inside Harry knew he wasn't fine, emotionally or physically. He was barely sleeping any more, and he kept on seeing Cedric's face every time he closed his eyes. The memory of Cedric falling to the floor, pale and limp was a sight that was ingrained into Harry's mind. It seemed like it was burnt into his eyelids. At the beginning of summer he had spent many nights crying over the events of that night, thinking about how much life Cedric had left, and how it had all been thrown away cruelly for the Boy-Who-Lived.

"No!'' he told himself quietly "I'm not going to think about it…''

But he knew that was a lie. Each night he saw the same thing over and over again. And each night, Harry had woken up, some times sweating and shaking, some times having cried out in his sleep, his hairs standing on end. On these nights it would take him hours to fully calm down, and he dared to go back to sleep incase he was to wake up in the same state.

Luckily Harry had not had any of his screaming ones at Hogwarts; they had only started when he had come back to the Dursleys. He wasn't sure why that was, perhaps the knowledge that he was on his own, or maybe just the fact that he had been too in shock, and it had only just set it that he really had been responsible for the death of Cedric.

Since arriving home from Hogwarts, nearly every night this summer he had woken up screaming, something that did not please his uncle. He was now receiving half the food he usually would, some thing that had made his stomach growl in the middle of the night. Harry was used to eating less then the usual teenager, but now even he was feeling deprived. Every day Harry would receive a meager portion of the family left overs, and on the better days, a piece of burnt toast. The lack of food had been taking its toll on the teenage boy, and whilst his stomach had shrunk to accommodate this lack of food, he still had hunger pains late at night.

Harry got up and walked over to his open window. The cold breeze felt nice on Harry's flushed skin. He looked into the sky, willing Hedwig to return from delivering the weekly letter to Sirius. Harry sighed, missing Hedwig and hoping it would not be long before she would return, affectionately nipping his ear. She was the only connection to the wizarding world that he had at 4 Privet Drive, and he sometimes felt like he needed her, to remind him that he was not alone. At the moment that was something he really needed reminding of.

He closed the window, leaving only one open so that there was enough space for Hedwig to fly through. He pushed his face up against the cool glass, watching the stars in the sky above. The glass was refreshingly cool, and he relished the feel of it against his skin. It was only when he peeled his face off of the window that he realised just how hot he was.

He gingerly put his forehand to his head. Harry could instantly tell that he was hotter then normal, and he knew this was not good. As a child he had always had to look after himself, and he had learnt to judge when he was feverish and when he was just warm. He knew that his temperature was higher then normal, and this was usually the first sign that he was about to get sick. He shock his head slowly, this was bad, very bad. He couldn't afford to get sick, not when he had jobs to do!

He removed most of his sheets off of his bed and laid on the bare mattress. Whilst Harry was terrified of the recurring dreams that he knew there was a large chance of returning to, he also knew he would need some strength for the chores he would have to complete later that day. He sighed in defeat and settled down into the small single bed. He slowly took off his glasses and settled into a fitful sleep.

Harry was awoken a few hours later by the shouts of his uncle from downstairs.

"BOY!" Vernon shouted up the stairs. It was 8:30 and the boy wasn't in the kitchen making breakfast yet. His door was always unlocked at 8 am sharp, so he could prepare any food, and it would be ready when they came down. Vernon stalked to the bottom of the stairs, waiting to hear a response from Harry's room. He waited for a moment, then hearing no movement, went upstairs. He made as much noise as possible, wanting to disturb the boy from what he imagines to be a peaceful lie in for the freak. "If the boy thinks he's going to get out of his chores by being lazy, he's got another thing coming" he growled under his breath. Arriving at the padlocked door, he brought his hand back and thumped. The lock was undone and was only hanging on the the door on one side, so Vernon knew that Harry couldn't use being locked in as an excuse. "UP! NOW!" he shouted through the crack in the door.

Vernon Dursley was a man with a very short temper, and the boy was quickly wearing on it. If he didn't appear at the door profusely apologizing and making breakfast very soon, Harry was going to see the angry side of his uncle. Just as Vernon was getting ready to kick the door he heard a rustling come from the room. The rustle was followed by a low moan, and then a very pale, very sick looking Harry appeared at the door, swaying gently as he gripped onto the door frame. "STOP PLAYING SICK AND GET DOWNSTAIRS AND COOK MY BREAKFAST!" Vernon screamed. The Boy wasn't lying in bed all day! Vernon needed his breakfast before work, and the house was looking a mess. Even if he was "sick" he couldn't get out of these 'vital' jobs, but Vernon highly doubted that they could get sick. "COME ON BOY! MOVE!" He bellowed, causing Harry to jump and his shivering to increase.

He slowly made his way down the stairs, stumbling every once in a while and holding onto the handrail with all his might. He was not going to let this defeat him, even if he didn't know what this was.

He could tell that his uncle was loosing his temper, and Harry knew that it would end badly for him if he didn't hurry up, so ignoring the pain that flashed through his every move, he hurried down the stairs. When he reached the bottom he bent over panting, trying to get the air back into his lungs. Black spots danced in front of his eyes and his head swam dangerously. It was all he could do to stay upright. Suddenly he heard a hissing voice right next to his ear. "Boy, I have been surprisingly lenient with you this morning. If you don't get in that kitchen now and cook my family breakfast, there will be hell to pay. Are we clear?". Harry shuddered and managed a slight nod. He trudged into the clinically clean kitchen a picked up a pan from one of the cupboards and set it on the stove, wiping his furiously sweating forehead. Why was he so hot? He knew it wasn't a sudden turn around in the weather, as he could hear the news from the living room saying that heavy rain was forecast for that afternoon. He sighed, this was a sign of the sickness that was all around the neighbourhood, and even though Harry never really socialized with anyone, he figured that he must have just picked it up.

Harry didn't realise how wrong he was.


	2. Worries

Chapter 3: Worries

AN: I'm so sorry for the huuuuugggeeeee gap in my updates! I completely forgot about this. But I'm gonna pick it up again and I have big big plans for this story! Also, I feel like my writing style has got so much better since I wrote the last two chapters so expect better and longer chapters :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing, it all comes from the amazing mind of JK Rowling.

Last chapter:

'Why was he so hot?

Harry thought this was a sign of the sickness that was all around the neighborhood, how little he knew.'

'BOY! NOW!' screamed Vernon from the dining room.

Harry slowly made his way into the kitchen, and searched the cupboards for everything he would need.

He knew that taking so long to make breakfast would most probably cost him his dinner, but he felt so bad he didn't even care.

It was just then that Petunia chose to poke her face around the door.

'Duddykins needs his breakfast in bed, now!'

Dudley had heard about the sickness going around and had 'caught' it.

Whilst Harry knew this was just an excuse to get out of having to do the summer exercise that the school nurse had signed him up for, his parents were waiting on him hand and foot.

Harry snorted then corrected himself, more like he was waiting on Dudley hand and foot.

The bacon was slowly sizzling in the pan, and Harry bent down to get out a tray to take upstairs.

He was suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness. He sat on the floor with his head between his legs, waiting for the world to stop spinning.

It was his bad luck that just as he was about to get up, Vernon walked in.

'WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING BOY? MY SON IS STARVING AND VERY SICK, AND YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST TAKE A BREAK AND RELAX! NO MEALS FOR YOU, FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!'

Harry slowly nodded and got up.

He looked at the calendar that hung next to the fridge.

'Great, its only Tuesday.' he thought, although he doubted he could eat much anyway.

He served up the food and put it on the table.

He took the tray and slowly stumbled his way up the stairs, willing himself not to drop the breakfast he just painstakingly made.

The door to Dudley's room was already open, but Harry made sure to knock before he entered, remembering the punching he got last time for assuming that he could enter.

Dudley grunted and Harry slowly made his way in.

His cousins room was much grander then his own. A huge king size bed was in the middle of the room, with a large plasma screen hung on the wall directly in front.

Lavish furniture adorned the room, and it had just been repainted in a mustard colour, the same colour as the Smeltings tie.

Harrys room consisted of a small desk, two lamps and a small bed.

'If only the people of Hogwarts knew how their chosen one really lived' Harry mused.

Harry put the tray down on the large wooden table next to Dudley's bed and turned to leave.

Dudley was too busy playing his latest game, that had only been released two days ago, to care who had entered his room.

It was only the smell of crispy bacon that had made him pause his game.

Harry walked down the hall back to the stair case and began to make his way downstairs, to start his chores for the day.

However, around half way down he got another wave of dizziness, and fell down the rest.

Petunia ran to the bottom of the staircase at the loud sound, worried her Dudders had hurt himself.

'You stupid boy! Look what you've done to my cream carpet! You will clean that up now!' she screamed

Harry picked himself up off the floor and looked up the stairs.

The last few stairs had big droplets of blood on them.

Harry pondered where the blood had come from, before feeling a stinging on the side of his head.

He put his hand there and looked at it. It was covered in dark red blood.

Harry decided he must have cut it on the way down.

Thankfully he hadn't had any other injuries, other then a few bruises.

Even his glasses had managed to survive, for which he was very grateful, doing his chores without them would have been impossible.

He grabbed some carpet cleaner and set to work getting rid of the stains.

He tried to rub it out with a sponge, but his muscles hurt every time he rubbed.

It took him over an hour to clean all three stairs, when it should have been a ten minute piece of work.

He stood up and his back clicked. All of his muscles were aching.

Harry shrugged this off as being from falling down the stairs.

After returning the cleaning equipment to the kitchen he found Petunia's list of jobs for Harry to complete today.

The first one was to trim back all the hedges in the back garden.

Harry hated this job, and it would be even harder for him today with his aching muscles.

He took the shears and began to cut the hedges back, when yet another wave of dizziness hit him.

The shears clattered to the floor, thankfully not near him, and he sank to the floor.

He was beginning to worry about being sick. It had taken the kids in the neighborhood weeks to feel better again.

He sighed, and was about to stand up again, when he felt a tingling, numbing sensation in his arms.

He tried to move them but they were like lead, it was like they had fallen asleep.

After much effort and about 10 minutes of pins and needles, Harry had returned to cutting back hedges, and the painful tingling had reduced to just an uncomfortable prickle.

Two hours later he had finally finished the hedges, and headed back inside. He had began to feel nauseas and wanted some water to sooth his parched throat.

He sat down and began to sip the water, relishing how it felt on his throat.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and ran to the toilet, making it just in time.

He emptied his stomach of the water, and the very little amount of food he had eaten in the past few days.

He cleaned himself up and went back into the kitchen.

Now he was very worried, he couldn't even keep down water.

Harry just wanted to go to bed, but he had other jobs to be done.

The next job was to sweep the front garden and water the plants.

He sighed, at least this would be an easier job.

Harry went out into the front and grabbed a rake. He began to very slowly gathered all the leaves that had fallen on to the grass.

Last summer Petunia had been obsessed with having as many tall trees as she could planted in her front garden, to be able to have 'more privacy from the neighbours' , but Harry knew it was to make her house look better then the new family from over the road, who had planted a tree in their front garden.

Even though it was summer, Petunia had left all the leaves from autumn on the ground, so that Harry had more work to do.

The Dursleys got a kick out of making Harry do their work, and be their personal slave.

It made them happy to see the 'freak' being put to good use, and 'earning his keep'.

Harry felt disgusted, they hardly fed him, his clothes were all too big for him and second hand, they even used to keep him in a cupboard under the stairs! If anything they owed Harry for all the work he did for them.

But he knew that things would not change. The Dursleys hated him, not for who he was, but what he was, and that was something he couldn't change.

He finished raking the leaves, and took a break to sit in the shelter of the trees.

Harry leant back on the trunk of one of the trees, and looked up at the sky.

Suddenly another wave of dizziness hit him, this time accompanied by pain in his stomach, like he had felt earlier.

He tried to get up, but he couldn't, and everything was slowly turning black.

Harry panicked, knowing that no-one would find him round here, behind the trees. He tried to move, to make a noise, to do anything, but he couldn't.

Slowly he succumbed to the unconsciousness he had been fighting off.


	3. Dates

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe belongs to JK Rowling.

Last Chapter...

'Harry panicked, knowing that no-one would find him round here, behind the trees. He tried to move, to make a noise, to do anything, but he couldn't.

Slowly he succumbed to the unconsciousness he had been fighting off. '

Harry slowly opened his eyes, and looked around. It was dark out. How long had he been unconscious? And when did he go outside? Had he done any of his jobs today? Harry couldn't remember anything about today. The last thing he remembered was his night mare last night. What had happened today? A dull throbbing was in Harry's head. He touched his head and felt the familiar stickiness of blood. Why was he bleeding? Harry was so confused. He picked up the rake that was lying next to him and used it to help himself up. He felt so weak. He had an unusual taste in his mouth, he couldn't quite work out what it was. He shrugged it off and continued clearing the garden. He then got the hose and watered all the plants. Harry tried to finish as quickly as possible, so he could go up to bed.

He put a hand in his pocket and found a crumpled piece of paper. He smoothed it out to see Petunia's list of jobs. Harry hadn't even finished half of them. He knew he would be in huge trouble, but right now he felt so bad he didn't even care. Why did he feel so bad? Last night he hadn't felt like this, in fact he'd never felt like this. He'd had colds and coughs before, when he was a little kid. Whenever that happened he would sit in his cupboard under the stairs and dream about how his parents would have looked after him like the Dursley's looked after Dudley when he was ill. They would let him sleep in the middle of their big bed, and check his temperature every hour. They would let him choose the TV channel, and he would have his favourite meal for dinner to make him feel better. Harry wasn't even allowed into the medicine box, so all Harry knew to do when he was ill was get through it. Just deal with it until it was gone. But this was different, Harry had never dealt with anything like this before. This didn't feel like a cold, he felt like he was on a boat, and everything was moving around him. He just wanted to fall asleep for hours, and wake up feeling better. His muscles ached and he head pounded. Even his eyes felt like they were throbbing. He had a rusty, metallic like taste in his mouth, and his throat felt dry. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten, but even the thought of food made him feel sick. He felt the muscles in his back spasm, and he stopped at the kitchen door to wait for them to finish. Once they had stopped, Harry made his way upstairs, tripping several times. He had always had great co-ordination, that's what made him such a great seeker, but now he felt totally uncoordinated.

He finally made it upstairs, and went to the bathroom to get a drink. As he finished drinking from the tap he looked at himself in the mirror and groaned. His skin had taken on a greyish colour, and the pupils of his eyes had gotten much bigger. The only part of his face that had colour were his cheeks, which were a flushed red. He touched them only to find them burning hot. Harry had not realised how hot his skin had been. Had he been like this all day? He couldn't remember. He unlocked the bathroom door and looked around. Which room was his again? He slowly walked down the hall, and finally located his room.

Hedwig had returned to her cage and cooed softly. A message lay on the desk, but Harry couldn't even find the energy to open it. He fell onto his bed and went straight to sleep.

'BOY! GET UP THIS INSTANT!' Vernon screamed, banging on Harry's door. Petunia had already been shouting at his door for the past hour, and now Vernon had taken over.

After about five minutes of hitting the door, Vernon had lost his temper, he burst through the door into the room. The Dursley's hated going in to the 'freak's room. Vernon saw Harry laying fully clothed on top of the bed and stomped over to him. He began to shake Harry violently, but Harry didn't wake up. Vernon went downstairs and got a bottle of water from the fridge. He went back upstairs and took the lid off the bottle. He poured the ice cold water over Harry who began to shiver and gasp. Vernon lifted Harry of his bed and roughly threw him on the floor. Harry's eyes slowly opened about half way. 'BREAKFAST. NOW.' Vernon yelled before slamming the door, causing Harry to flinch.

He slowly picked himself up, and tried to stand up. He couldn't. He fell back to the floor with a thud. He knew he wouldn't be able to do any work today, and that Vernon would kill him. He half crawled, half dragged himself back onto the bed, and Hedwig cooed from her cage worriedly. 'S'nothing' he whispered back to her, but she could sense his pain. He flew over to the bed and sat by him, nipping his ear affectionately. Harry couldn't even find the strength to stroke her. She flew back to the desk and picked up the letter Harry had forgotten about. She dropped it on his chest. Harry struggled with the envelope but finally got it open.

'Harry, hope your summer as been good so far, or as good as it can be with the Dursleys.

I was told to tell you that we're coming to pick you up on the 6th, so be ready! Your gonna stay here for the rest of summer. Hermione says hi, and that she misses you. She also said something about textbooks but I refused to include it. See you soon mate, Ron.'

'The 6th? What's today? The 2nd?' He wondered. He sighed and rolled over onto his side, which was not a task easily accomplished. He couldn't even find the effort to take his glasses off, and fell asleep fully clothed.

'Vernon!' Petunia shouted. 'Yes dear?' Vernon answered sweetly. 'I just went into the boys room. I think he's sick. Must be something to do with_ them _, so DO NOT go into the freaks room. And especially don't let Dudders. We'll just shut him in there until his freak friends come to get him. I don't even want you to go in there to give him food. we might catch his disease. Just slide some bread through the hatch in the door every now and then. Understood?' Petunia explained. A wicked smile came to Vernon's lips, 'Understood.' He went over to the calendar and crossed off today, the 5th. Vernon was going to enjoy this.


	4. Rescue

AN: Hey guys! I'm sorry it's been so long when I promised more regular updates. I've had so much work and exams that I've been rushed off my feet, and it's been hard to find the time or the want to write this when I've had so much else to do. I hope that I will write more chapters soon. I have the outline for this story written out, and I feel really good about it, so we'll just have to see how it takes shape. I've tried to make this chapter a little bit longer to compensate for the lack of updates.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, sadly. You know the drill.

Life was always bustling at the Burrow. It was hard to think of a time that the house had ever been quiet. Today was no exception. The twins had volunteered to clear up from breakfast, and loud metallic bangs could be heard from the kitchen. Ron was sitting downstairs with Hermione on the couch, discussing what they would need when they went to Diagon Alley later in the week. "Ron we **have** to go the new book shop, I heard they have the first edition of Hogwarts: A History, and a whole section dedicated to wizarding exams!" Hermione enthused, trying to get Ron as excited as she was. "Yeah right Hermione, like I'm going to a book shop. I wanna look at the new Nimbus 5000, apparently the Bulgarian national team did a sponsorship deal with Nimbus to get the new brooms before they were released to the public. The players said its the fastest broom they've ever ridden" Ron was almost bouncing up and down with enthusiasm. Hermione just shook her head "If only he could be this excited about school work" she thought.

Their conversation was interrupted as Sirius walked down the stairs, wrapping a cloak around him.

"Going somewhere?" Ron asked curiously.

"I'm going to pick up Harry remember? It's the 6th!" Sirius impatiently explained. It was clear he was excited to see his godson, and couldn't wait to get going. He started pacing back and forth, waiting for Remus and Arthur to join his by the fireplace.

When they did he grabbed the pot of floo powder in his hands, handing it to each of them before picking up some himself. He stepped into the fire and bellowed '4 Privet Drive", pulling the cloak over his eyes so as not to get soot in them.

He tumbled out of the fireplace and quickly dusted himself off. Remus and Arthur soon joined him. They had chosen to retrieve him in the morning, so that he could have the whole day to unpack his things and catch up with everyone. Sirius looked around the room he was in and saw that Harry's uncle, aunt and cousin were currently frozen on the couch staring at the three men.

Remus had also spotted this and decided to take control. "Hello, I'm here to collect Harry, I'm sure he's told you that we were -"

He was cut off by an angry looking Vernon. "No the freak didn't tell us anything. How dare you come to my house dressed like that! Looking like a... like a ... like one of them!" He hissed, advancing slowly to the three men. Petunia put a hand on her husbands shoulder and whispered in his ear "What if they know that he's ill? What if they blame us Vernon! I won't have them punish me for this, I won't!" She was getting hysterical and it alerted the attention of Arthur. "Punish you for what Mrs Dursley? Where is Harry?" He asked slowly and calmly. There was no hint of malice in his voice, but Petunia could tell the man would flip when he found the boy. "We didn't do anything! He was like that when he got here, I swear! All I did was protect my family from catching it!" She was on her knees, shaking from fear. "WHERE IS HARRY! TELL ME NOW BEFORE I DO SOMETHING YOU"LL REGRET" Sirius screamed, fear and anger coursing through his veins. He'd had enough with Remus and Arthurs niceties and wanted to get Harry and get out. Dudley raised one of his fat arms and slowly pointed to the stairs.

Sirius took off running, throwing every door open as he went past it, and calling out Harry's name. He slowed down when he got to the last door. It had two large bolts on the door, and a small hatch at the bottom. Sirius felt sick to his stomach. "Alohamora" The door swung open and Sirius peered into the pitch black that met his eyes.

"Harry? Harry are you in here?" he whispered, trying to determine if the room was empty or not.

"Lumos" Sirius jumped as he heard Remus light up his wand. He mentally kicked himself, why didn't he think of that?

Remus walked forward into the room and gasped. Sirius hurried to follow him and what he saw nearly broke his heart.

Harry was laying face down on a small bed. He was visibly shaking and was drenched in sweat. Sirius hurried over to his godson, and turned him over so he was laying on his back. Harry moaned in pain at the movement and Sirius was suddenly aware of Harry's labored breathing.

"Harry? Harry can you hear me? Please Harry I need you to open your eyes for me, come on Har, talk to me" he desperately pleaded, but Harry made no response. Sirius slowly picked up Harry and cringed at the gasp of pain Harry made as he did so. He didn't like to cause Harry pain, but he knew that it was vital to get him back to the Burrow.

"He's so light. He was never this light before, it's like he hasn't eaten in weeks. And his skin feels so hot, we need to get him out of here now" Sirius gravely told the other two men.

Remus slowly nodded, a mask of calm trying to hide the panic he felt inside, whilst Arthur just stood in the door frame shocked at the state of the boy he loved like a son.

Sirius moved as fast as he could with out jostling Harry and Remus threw the floo powder in the fire as he approached it. He called out for the Burrow and covered Harry with his cloak. He braced himself for when he got to the Burrow. Tumbling like he did at the Dursley's would cause Harry immense pain.

The sound hit him as he got back to the Burrow. Although as soon as everyone saw the state Harry was in the room became deathly silent. It was Ginny who broke the silence.

"What's wrong with him? Why is he shivering? We need to get him to a healer now!" She panicked, and stared at the face of the boy she loved worriedly. "Why isn't anyone moving!" She screamed desperately at her shocked family.

This seemed to bring Molly Weasley out of the daze she was in, and back into action. "Sirius lay him down on the couch, Fred and George floo to Hogwarts and get Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore, tell them it's urgent. Ron sweetie get my wand, Ginny get some blankets and a pillow, now!" She had gone into mother mode and was ordering her children to fetch everything she would need. Harry gasped yet again as he was laid on the couch and Sirius drew a seat next to him and clutched his hand for dear life. Molly put a hand on Harry forehead and he moaned in pain. "He has a fever, and a dangerous one at that. It also seems like his skin hurts. Do you know any other symptoms he has? It'll help Poppy when she gets here" Molly asked the men. "He's shivering, although that could be due to the fever. Sirius also noticed he was very light, so he maybe malnourished or may have a lack of appetite. He doesn't seem very lucid and wasn't aware of what was going on around him. Sirius called out to him and he didn't respond." Remus said solemnly.

Ron ran into the room, trying to catch his breath. He held out the wand to his mother, who took it and thanked him. Seconds later Ginny returned, arms laden with blankets and pillows which she set on the floor by the couch. She had tears in her eyes and Molly pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't you worry sweet heart. Once Madame Pomfrey's had a look at him he'll be on the road to recovery. And while he's here we can work on fattening him up. Don't worry, we'll get him back to his normal self" she quietly comforted her daughter, while four loud pops signaled the twins return with Dumbledore and Poppy. Molly pulled away from her daughter to turn to the healer. "Poppy, he has a nasty fever, and I think it's causing him to have pains in his skin. He's underfed and isn't responsive to our calls" Molly hastily explained. She didn't want to waste precious time explaining the situation when Poppy could be fixing it.

"Oh the poor dear. Let me look at him and see what I can do. The rest of you need to leave" she said firmly. Everyone knew that Poppy Pomfrey was not a woman to argue with. Hermione and Ginny were crying, and Fred and George led them from the room, whilst Remus and Arthur followed. Poppy saw that Ron, Molly, Dumbledore and Sirius had stayed, and decided that she didn't have the time to waste trying to shoo them out.

"Molly, could you help me? I need someone to help me find and perform the spells with me, and you would be perfect." Poppy asked quickly. Molly grabbed the large spell book and nodded at Poppy.

"We need to break this fever fast. Can you find the 'quasso aestus estus' spell for me?" she asked Molly

She quickly located it and the two started chanting the incantation "quasso aestus estus, quasso fervens tergum" A white glow surrounded Harry's body and he stopped shivering. Sirius, who was still holding Harry's hand, felt his skin cool down. "It's working! He isn't so hot anymore, just a little warm" Sirius said, releasing a breath he didn't know he had taken. He squeezed Harry's hand and he moaned in pain, causing Sirius to flinch and realise that the pain in Harry's skin still hadn't subsided. "Poppy his skin, it still hurts when it's touched, do something about it, please!" he begged. He hated seeing Harry in pain, and he'd never seen Harry quite so ill before. "Calm down Mr Black, I'm doing the best I can!" she said distressed. She could see the boy was suffering, but she could only work so fast. Sirius' comments only made her more aware of that.

"Molly find me the 'torpeo inferus' spell." she commanded. Molly quickly found it and again they started to chant. "Torpeo inferus tergum dolor, eximo poena" This time Harry was surrounded by a red glow, and his body was lifted several inches off the sofa by an invisible force before slowly being put down again. When Sirius didn't hear the gasp of pain he had been expecting he knew the spell had worked, and embraced his unconscious godson. Poppy turned to the others. "Thats all the magic he can handle, at least for the next few days. Those spells are strong magic, that's why I need two people to be able to perform them. That should stop his fever and pains for now, although I can't tell if they'll return after the spell wears off. For now it's just important to get him conscious so we can find out if he has any other symptoms. I have to be honest, I've never seen this before. It could be that it's a muggle disease, or it could be dark magic." At this statement, almost everyones faces showed the same expression. It was one of horror and fear, and concern for the currently unconscious boy laying on the couch. However Albus Dumbledore's face looked remarkably calm. His eyes had lost their sparkle, and his face looked much more haggard, but he did not share the same expression as the others in the room. He had already considered this as a possibility when the Weasley twins had come to retrieve him. Poppy's thoughts had only confirmed what had already been in his head. Poppy started to speak again "It is just a possibility at this point. When he wakes up have someone retrieve me immediately so I can treat him. He's severely dehydrated and malnourished. Try and get him to drink something when he wakes up, but don't force him on the food. If he's been without food for many weeks it's possible that his stomach has shrunk and he may not be able to eat very much. If he does decide he's hungry then feed him something like broth or soup that he will be able to keep down. If he can't keep down water, notify me at once. He is also sleep deprived, so make sure he rests as much as possible. Keep him warm and in bed until I tell you he's well enough to be out of bed. I think he should be fine until tomorrow, but if you need me you know where to find me."

Sirius stood up and shook her hand, "Thank you Poppy. He means the world to me, I don't know what I'd do without him. Thank you." the gratitude was clear in his voice and he had tears in his eyes. Poppy embraced him and then said her goodbyes to the others before flooing back to Hogwarts.

"I also must return to the castle, I'm afraid. I have to look into something. I will come to check on Harry soon, if any of you should need me please do not hesitate to call me. Goodnight" Dumbledore said as he addressed the room before doing as Poppy had done not a minute before and flooing back to the castle.

Molly sat down on the other couch, and stared at Harry worriedly. He was unconscious, but his face kept screwing up in pain, and seemed oddly too still. Harry had always fidgeted when he had slept, and now he was lying flat on his back. It seemed unnatural. The only comforting thought was watching the steady rise and fall on Harry's chest, instead of hearing the deadly shallow breathing she had heard earlier that night. She slowly stood up, approaching the stairs and wearily climbing them. She knew that her children and Hermione must be going mad with worry and that it was not fair to keep them in the dark for so long.

After being ushered from the room the Weasley children and Hermione had decided to congregate in Ron's room. They saw the bed that had been laid out in preparation for Harry's stay. They felt that this was the closest they could get to him at the moment, and did not sit on it, as if waiting for Harry to arrive. They had been sitting here for what seemed like hours, waiting for any scrap of news on Harry. The girls tears had subsided now, and they sat in silence, all in their own minds. Molly Weasley opened the door and all eyes were on her. She took a deep breath and explained what had happened. "Harry's okay, for now at least. Madame Pomfrey isn't sure what's wrong with Harry yet, and we need to wait for him to wake up so we can find out all of his symptoms. Madame Pomfrey isn't sure if this is a muggle disease as she hasn't seen it before, so she needs to do a bit of research. We managed to break his fever and stop his skin from hurting, but we don't know how long that will last. He's okay for now, but we're going to keep him downstairs so we can watch him tonight. He's also dehydrated and malnourished so we can all make sure we help him with that. I want to make sure he puts on a few pounds before he goes back to school. Also, Madame Pomfrey wants him to stay on bed rest, so I think it would help if you all kept him entertained because we all know he won't like having to be stuck in bed. You should all go to sleep, it's late and the sooner you go to bed, the sooner you can see Harry in the morning, okay?" She looked at all of them, the air of authority in her voice. They all nodded, grateful she had told them everything, and not kept details back concerning Harry. "Goodnight kids, I love you all" she said as she closed the door to Ron's room.

"You know he's never had anyone look after him" Hermione said quietly, as if saying it to her self. Ginny looked up at Hermione, surprised at this information. "He's never been looked after? ever?" She asked curiously. "His aunt and uncle always left him to look after himself. I remember one night he told me by accident, when we were discussing chicken pox." she said sadly. The Weasley's all gave her odd looks.

"It's a muggle disease almost all children get when they are young. But I think that's why Harry hates people fussing over him, he's not used to it." she explained. Ginny spoke, a determined look in her eyes "Well I guess we'll have to change that then. He deserves to be looked after and we'll make sure he gets better as quick as possible. We'll work on getting him to eat more, and we'll keep him entertained when he's on bed rest. We'll show him what it's like to have people who care about you." The boys looked up inspired by Ginny's speech, whilst Hermione smiled. It was clear to see how much Ginny loved Harry.

"Oi Fred, what about we show him the new stock we have to go in our store? Bet he'd love to see what we're working on!" George said. Fred nodded enthusiastically and the twins smiled at each other. Their smile was infectious. Soon the whole room was smiling.

That was until they heard a familiar voice scream from down stairs.


End file.
